The Development Company Behind Detroit's High Tech Revival

• Detroit’s comeback: One real estate company, started by the founder of Rocket Mortgage, has focused almost exclusively on Detroits urban renewal.

• WeWork for grownups: WeWork is rebranding with the new tagline “WeWork for business” in an attempt to create a more professional image.

• No help for homeless: An audit has exposed billions in unaccounted for funding for the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority.

• Upcoming webinar: How AI and data tools are transforming energy management in commercial real estate asset operations. Sign up

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Urban Development

The Development Company Behind Detroit's High Tech Revival

Detroit’s comeback story is gaining real traction—and it’s not just about football wins or sitcom shoutouts. Once synonymous with post-industrial collapse, the city is undergoing a real estate-led reinvention anchored by Bedrock, the firm founded by billionaire Dan Gilbert. The revival isn’t happening through a patchwork of developers or public-private partnerships, it’s largely the vision of one group deliberately reshaping more than 100 buildings across a dense stretch of downtown. With an eye on turning Detroit into a magnet for talent and business, Bedrock’s transformation strategy could help the once struggling city build a new urban economy.

Unlike other city revivals that lean on broad coalitions or tech booms, Detroit’s resurgence is highly centralized—and deeply intentional. Bedrock is banking on a portfolio approach to urban change, treating neighborhoods like interconnected systems instead of isolated assets. That’s led to big-ticket plays like the 14-acre life sciences corridor and TechTown, which aim to seed biotech and medical innovation. The strategy isn’t just about attracting startups, but retaining the thousands of STEM grads Detroit produces each year, many of whom currently leave for stronger job markets. It’s part city-building, part talent-retention effort, and it hinges on Detroit shedding its single-industry legacy.

Bedrock’s ambitions stretch beyond real estate and into R&D. The company is building platforms like the Urban Exchange Lab to support researchers working on sustainable urbanism, using anonymized data from its own buildings as training ground for new tools and AI models. It’s also partnered with automakers and hardware firms to run experiments in mobility through the Detroit Smart Parking Lab. While Detroit isn’t Silicon Valley yet, these investments are turning the city into a living testbed for innovation. If the model works, it could be a blueprint for how real estate can drive more than lower vacancy rates, it can help reimagine a city’s entire identity.

Overheard

WeWork Is Eager to Rebrand as "WeWork for Business"

WeWork is trying something it hasn’t done well in years: act like a normal real estate company. Fresh out of Chapter 11 and under the leadership of new CEO John Santora, the co-working giant is ditching the startup theatrics that once defined it. Gone are the sweeping mission statements and unchecked lease commitments; in their place is a more disciplined, revenue-conscious operator focused on stable margins and a clearer value proposition. The new messaging, anchored in a global rebrand as “WeWork for Business,” makes one thing clear: WeWork wants to be taken seriously by landlords, enterprise tenants, and Wall Street alike.

That repositioning isn’t just cosmetic. Since restructuring, WeWork has exited over 170 leases, trimmed $4 billion in debt, and shifted toward asset-light agreements where landlords shoulder more of the risk. The days of front-loading lease obligations in pursuit of breakneck growth are over. Instead, WeWork is pitching itself as a tech-enabled management partner that can help owners monetize underutilized space while offering tenants consistent service, design, and flexibility. For corporate occupiers adjusting to hybrid strategies, the pitch is compelling—and far less risky than it was under Adam Neumann’s leadership.

Still, the company has a long way to go to rebuild trust in a sector still skeptical of the flex office model. While WeWork’s branding now emphasizes “grown-up” values like reliability, profitability, and professionalism, it’s ultimately the performance metrics that will determine whether this reinvention sticks. Occupancy rates, retention, and the ability to scale profitably will be closely watched. The growth of WeWork's rivals like Industrious show that there is still a robust market for flex office, WeWork just needs to find a way to establish its brand as the leader in the space as it was before the company's disastrous fall from grace.

LA Plans to Focus on Housing After Billions in Aid Goes Missing

Los Angeles County’s homelessness response is under pressure as supervisors move ahead with plans to strip over $300 million in funding from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and create a new county-run department by mid‑2026. The decision follows two audits that highlighted serious accountability lapses at LAHSA, including billions in untracked spending and a fragmented system of oversight. In response, county leadership is shifting toward a Housing First model by restructuring under a new homelessness agency modeled on the successful Housing for Health program, aiming to improve outcome tracking and place more people into permanent housing .

The county’s 2025–26 homeless services budget sets overall funding at roughly $908 million through Measure A, but it also implements at least $62 million in cuts to programs focused on job training, legal clinics, and mobile showers. Even so, supervisors retained up to $19 million earmarked for prevention services and $7 million for programs serving transition‑age youth. While the interim housing strategy, Pathway Home, continues, the impact of reduced social services on long-term stability remains uncertain.

The shift signals both reform and risk. While the county pledges greater oversight, stronger measurable outcomes, and a more centralized Housing First approach, critics, including Mayor Bass, warn the upheaval may disrupt existing progress and coordination. The ultimate test will be whether the new structure can deliver housing faster without sacrificing support services that prevent recidivism into homelessness. With federal investigators joining the scrutiny over financial mismanagement, all eyes are on whether this realignment can actually help or hinder the fight against what remains one of the nation’s most entrenched homelessness crises.

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Propmodo Daily is written and edited by Franco Faraudo with contributions from readers like you and the Propmodo team.

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